〈 288화 〉 282화 VS Cyborg Cardinal (1）
*
The cardinal grimaces and shouts loudly.
“As long as the taste is good, it doesn’t matter if you’re running!”
“That’s f*cking homo, you dog!”
With my words, the cardinal grinds his teeth in annoyance.
“I’ll make you suffer the ‘Boku no Pico’ treatment.”
“Ah, you’re definitely getting the ‘Old Lady’ treatment.”
[Narrator: Give it a punch like a man, just once.]
‘You’re really gonna die for this.’
As the distance between me and the cardinal closes, Caressy urgently shouts to me.
“Be careful! That guy takes the hits at first, but later they won’t work!”
“Thanks. I’ll keep that in mind.”
While expressing my gratitude to Caressy, I didn’t stop my steps.
Honestly, I hadn’t seen Caressy fight, so I didn’t know what abilities the opponent would use.
However, if attacks aren’t effective as she said, that’s definitely a tricky situation.
But there’s no way to back down.
With an axe in my right hand and a gauntlet on my left, I approach.
Without hesitation, towards the cardinal.
[Hey, that’s hell ahead.]
‘…The lawsuit notices from here on out are your fault.’
[Ah.]
I take a step forward.
The opponent does the same.
– Thud.
– Tap.
We draw closer.
With every step, the tension rises like climbing stairs.
And two instincts shout at me simultaneously.
Run.
Don’t stop.
One comes from the instinct of survival.
The other springs from a strong rage towards the opponent.
And the latter was the winner.
“Are you ready to hit?”
“I won’t kill you gently.”
Though small in stature, the boy’s body has an electrifying sense against me, making it feel like I’m facing a larger entity.
It could well be called a boss monster of the Beastman Kingdom.
[There’s a boy ahead.]
‘Oh, not worthy of living.’
And just as we prepared to take the final step, we realized.
With this one step, we would plunge.
Right within reach of each other’s death.
No more words were necessary.
What could be heard was the calm sound of our breaths.
And the sound of our final steps.
– Thud.
– Thwap!
It started with the cardinal.
As I took my step, the cardinal swiftly kicks the ground and closes the distance.
It seems he felt no need for a scouting phase, launching a side kick directly at my thigh.
A straightforward attack that carves a clear path.
It’s a simple attack, but that simply demonstrates the considerable power it conceals.
“Princess Kick!!!!”
“Look at how you’re talking, you dog.”
I slightly shift my body to the side and stomp down hard on the shin of the incoming kick.
As a result, the cardinal’s foot loses its target and crashes to the ground.
With that, I slide his left foot and press his knee to lose balance.
“So it was because of that brat’s tricks!”
However, the cardinal seems unwilling to go down easily, forcing his body to rotate, aiming to strike me with his left elbow.
A bit of flailing on his part, but surprisingly sharp, a backspin blow.
Still, this was the chance.
I strike the cardinal’s left arm delivering the backspin blow with my gauntleted left fist.
To be precise, I’m aiming for the tricep to stop the rotation, not the elbow.
Simultaneously, I chop down with my axe aimed at his back.
[Look at his back!]
‘Curious about the Holy Knight Commander, huh?’
– Clang!
– Ping!
A clear sound as if steel was struck resonates from my left hand.
Meanwhile, the axe that strikes the cardinal’s back bounces away with a sound like clashing steel.
“Didn’t that brat tell you to learn something?”
Apparently, the attacks mentioned by Caressy simply aren’t landing.
However, the fact that even a severe blow didn’t land was surprising.
Keeping my composure, I retort to the cardinal’s words with a sneer.
“Can a piece of trash like you even say that without proper family training?”
“Don’t mouth off like that brat!!!”
“Did Karu really say something as stupid as that?”
At his words, I instinctively turned my gaze to Caressy.
“Now that I look, it’s not cat ears, it’s dog ears.”
“Watch where you’re going, you crazy bastard!!!”
Seizing the opportunity, the cardinal steadies himself and quickly extends his left fist.
“Princess Punch!!!”
“When chatting, don’t touch me, f*ck.”
There’s no need to clash head-on, so I lightly pushed his forearm up with the bottom of the axe handle.
At the same time, as he tries to deliver a right fist, I swiftly close in and grab his fist to stop the attack.
“Let go of that dirty hand!!!!”
“I don’t have a hobby of holding onto dog d*ck hands, you piece of trash.”
Simultaneously, I begin to condense magical power in my left palm.
Honestly, it was a somewhat reckless attempt, but still worth trying.
The Cheonma Repulsor has power that can’t even be compared to a mere strike.
However.
– Bang!!!!!
“What the f*ck is that.”
“Did you think that would work?”
Despite a strong explosion occurring,
The fist I grabbed from the cardinal clearly asserted its presence.
It bore slightly different coloring than before.
With a grin, the cardinal slowly begins to push my left hand back with his once pitch-black, now deep blackened arm.
I resist with everything I have, refusing to lose this power struggle.
“What is this? A show of strength?”
“What the hell is this bastard doing?”
Without budging an inch, the cardinal simply pushes me harder away.
Eventually, I give up on the power struggle and widen the distance, emboldened, the cardinal stretches his blackened arm to the side and shouts.
“It’s nanomachine, kid!!!!”
‘So that’s why he’s talking so much nonsense, he’s a politician, huh?’
[In that case, ask if he’s a senator from Colorado.]
There was a reason he babbled about wanting to be a princess.
Taking away his own hopes aside, the position of cardinal must have played a role.
As the second highest power in the religious state of the Beastman Kingdom, he was essentially a politician.
“You thought I was some pathetic boy, huh?!”
I didn’t reply, quietly hiding my left hand behind me while condensing magical power into a single point on my palm.
Meanwhile, the cardinal shows no sign of letting me go and rushes at me to kick again.
“Don’t you dare mess with the cardinal!!!”
But once the cardinal saw the Cheonma Laser I had charged,
He immediately halted all actions and desperately backed away from me.
“Tch. You prepared it already.”
[Seems he knows about the Cheonma Laser’s existence.]
‘Caress, you brat, wrote a damn good report.’
[Make him a researcher later so he can write papers.]
Seemingly aware of the Cheonma Laser’s presence, the cardinal appeared to be on guard.
While it might feel disadvantageous that my information got passed along due to Caressy’s report,
It wasn’t necessarily the case.
Despite being reinforced with nanomachines, the cardinal had no intention of closing in on me.
That was evidence that even nanomachines wouldn’t be effective against the Cheonma Laser.
“No need for you to come close.”
“Then how are you gonna hit me, you dumbass.”
While maintaining the Cheonma Laser, I raised my other hand to show my middle finger.
The cardinal, with a face full of mockery, stretched his blackened arm out towards me, shouting.
“Dark Sphere of Darkness!!!”
“Choose between princess syndrome or second childhood syndrome, you piece of trash.”
In that moment, a thick, sharp lance with a dark hue shot fiercely from the cardinal’s body.
Reflexively dodging it, I spun my body and hurled my axe.
[Wasn’t it said that your strike won’t work?]
‘Oh, right. I threw my weapon, f*ck.’
I felt a bit guilty for losing one weapon uselessly.
“Tch!”
“Huh?”
An entirely unexpected situation came into view.
The cardinal was hastily flattening himself to dodge the flying axe.
He didn’t need to dodge, after all, he could have just blocked it with his enhanced nanomachine body.
At the same time, the spear I dodged shattered and flew back to the cardinal’s fingertips.
Only then did I see the cardinal’s previously extended blackened arm slowly darkening.
While I was gathering the power of the Cheonma Laser, a piece pointed out sharply.
[What if that spear is nanomachine?]
‘That sounds plausible. For the first time in this chapter, he looks normal.’
[…F*ck.]
Regardless, during that brief pause before the cardinal’s next attack,
I decided to organize the information I had gathered through this fight.
One.
The cardinal has nanomachines, so severe and minor hits won’t register.
Including the Cheonma Repulsor.
Two.
However, the Cheonma Laser remains effective even against nanomachines.
As evidenced by how he distanced himself the moment he saw my charged Cheonma Laser.
Three.
The cardinal could also release the nanomachines inside his body to attack from the outside.
This was deduced when the spear aimed at my forehead broke and absorbed into his body.
I couldn’t be completely certain, but a reasonably high probability existed.
[You can bet your mom on that certainty.]
‘Why bet on my mom, you piece of sh*t.’
Lastly, four.
When there are no nanomachines within his body, all attacks become effective.
Otherwise, he wouldn’t have had a reason to dodge my axe.
All the information gathered formed a signpost, illuminating one path for me.
The path of counterattack.
Now it begins.
*
